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Thanks for reading, and thanks for all your emails. Join us here tomorrow for updates from the time trial.

4.29pm BST

That's that then. We move onto the time trial tomorrow, which is where we'll see Bradley Wiggins flex his muscles. It's an old cliche, but a good one, that he can't win the Giro tomorrow but he can certainly go some way to losing it. In the meantime, congratulations to Mark Cavendish. That didn't go entirely to plan but it was good enough for pink for him.

4.26pm BST

Cav drops a stunning F-bomb in his post-win interview. "Oops sorry," he says, "is this live?" He's not entirely happy about the end of the race, saying it didn't go according to plan. He says he was in the red at the end, and was for most of the race as it was so hot. He seems relieved more than delighted at that win. That's his 11th stage win at the Giro.

4.24pm BST

So the top five there were:

Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma Quick-Step)

Elia Viviani (Cannondale)

Nacer Bouhanni (FDJ)

Giacomo Nizzolo (RadioShack Leopard)

Matthew Harley Goss (Orica GreenEdge)

Updated at 4.28pm BST

4.23pm BST

Well, that was a tricky last couple of kilometres and the Omega Pharma Quick Step team dealt with it reasonably, if scrappily well. Cavendish had to charge from about eight back and then simply fizzed past everyone. Viviani thought he had that and had been leading it up until the last few metres. He smashed his handlebars as they went over the line, but Cavendish raised both arms high in the air a massive grin on his face. Cavendish will be in the pink tonight in more ways than one.

4.20pm BST

CAVENDISH WINS!

Goss makes a charge, Viviani goes too but Cavendish comes from a long way back. and flashes past them. CAV WINS THE STAGE!

Updated at 4.38pm BST

4.19pm BST

Thirteen riders have gone clear after that crash. Cavendish is one of them about fifth in line. 1km to go.

4.18pm BST

Cannondale are the team to try and grab the peloton by the scruff of the neck. Three of their riders step out in front, with Orica GreenEdge sending out three riders behind them. Omega Pharma are beginning to go with them. Meanwhile, there's been a crash that has split the peloton. This could get interesting.

4.16pm BST

This peloton is a mess. There's no-one in charge, setting the pace. This could be a chaotic finish. 3km to go.

4.16pm BST

GreenEdge's Pieter Weening shoots off the front on his own and looks a little surprised that he's allowed to. So instead he slopes back into the peloton, a little bemused.

4.14pm BST

Cannondale and RadioShack have forced their way forward too, and the Omega Pharma riders will have to sort themselves out here. Their riders are a little scattered in the peloton.

4.13pm BST

With 5km to go, the pace has been stamped up to the max. Orica GreenEdge are setting the pace and Omega Pharma Quick-Step have disappeared. Have they done too much work today? Are they going to blow it?

4.11pm BST

Omega Pharma Quick Step are happy to let Team Sky do the work at the front as they approach the finish line once again to go into the final lap. Cavendish's team are busy getting organised, working out where they need to be for the finish. 8km to go.

4.09pm BST

The Sky train seems to be working more as an effort to keep Wiggins out of trouble and to keep him near the front at the end. The peloton is very long at this point, a distance of 19 seconds between the front and the back so Wiggins will be keen to ensure he doesn't end up at the exhaust end. There are 9km to go.

Updated at 4.09pm BST

4.05pm BST

The peloton is being driven by Omega Pharma Quick-Step, who are making up on prong out of the front of it. Matching their rhythm is Team Sky, who make up another prong out of the front. In the middle is RadioShack still keen to get in the mix.

4.01pm BST

That's another lap chalked off. There are 16km to go, and another two laps.

3.59pm BST

That's that for Cameron Wurf. He's been overhauled by the peloton and more or less took his feet off the pedals as he saw them fly past him. He'll tuck in for a well-deserved rest now. A very strong performance from him today - almost like he was time-trialling. The peloton ups the pace and strings out, all the riders eyeing each other up.

3.55pm BST

Mark Cavendish is making his presence known now. Just before the intermediate sprint he was in the pack, checking who was going for the points. Following that, he was in and about everyone's ears setting the pace, telling them what he wanted, getting the team to just hold back a little and saying it was too early for them to chase down Wurf just yet. 20km to go.

3.51pm BST

Omega Pharma Quick-Step and Lampre are beginning to form up, jostling for space. Wurf goes over first in the intermediate sprint since he is out in front, but none of the other main sprinters have a dart for second. A Radio Shack rider clinches it instead, not really trying.

3.49pm BST

With a metronomic, relentless pace, the peloton are closing down Wurf. The lead is now 26 seconds with 25km to go. There are some very tight little corners on this part of the course, and a couple of dodgy looking, cobbled(ish) road surfaces. We're seeing quite a few little crashes already, so on the final lap with everyone going hell for leather, we may well see a few more.

3.45pm BST

Team Sky's Uran has had to stop again to change a wheel. He's now slipstreaming a team car as he tries to get back in touch with the peloton.

3.43pm BST

One of the Omega Pharma Quick-Steps goes down, while one of Team Sky's does too - think it was Uran, who looks like he had a puncture.

3.41pm BST

Wurf goes through again, completing another lap. He's beginning to tire and the peloton are beginning to get their mojo working. With 31km to go, Wurf's lead is now 30-odd seconds. This is where things will start getting interesting.

He's holding his lead at the moment, though. It's still hovering around the 46 second mark with 34.6km to go. The riders are flashing around the seafront of Naples, bright sunlight and a steady heat beating down.

3.30pm BST

Wurf completes another lap and he has just under 40km to drag his aching legs around now. His lead is now down to just 51 seconds. There are five more laps of this short circuit.

3.27pm BST

For Andrew Benton, who's asked what jerseys are on offer in the Giro, here's a very quick guide: the Maglia Rosa (pink after the pages of sponsors Gazzetta dello Sport) is for the overall leader. The Maglia Rosso Passione (red) is ostensibly the points competition jersey - points go to the top finishers at each stage - and tends, really, to work as the sprinter's jersey. The Maglia Azzurra (blue) is the King of the Mountains jersey and the Maglia Bianca (white) is the best young rider (under 25 on 1 January 2013) jersey.

3.23pm BST

Evidence that the peloton are cranking things up comes from the fact their average speed has now edged up to 42.39km/h. Wurf's lead is now 1min 21sec and he's just being slowly managed by the peloton behind him. There's an intermediate sprint halfway around this bit of the course, so perhaps the sprinter teams are beginning to think about the points on offer there and want Wurf caught.

3.20pm BST

That lead is actually just beginning to come down a bit now. The peloton have shaved 10 seconds off his lead in the last minute or so. Meanwhile Wurf appears to be showing no signs of tiring. He's simply gliding away, pumping, pumping, pumping without looking under much stress at all.

3.18pm BST

Wurf flashes past the line again, still out in front, still about 1min 40sec in the lead. There are 47.7km go and the peloton will presumably be very happy for him to keep doing laps on his own until there's about 20km left.

3.13pm BST

Omega Pharma Quick-Step have taken over the peloton now, bullying their way to the front and getting settled up front. Their lead-out train hasn't been working perfectly in the run-up to the Giro so Cavendish will be hoping they can get their act together today.

3.07pm BST

Wurf is still pumping away up front as he completes the first lap of the short circuit. His lead is 1min 44sec with 55.6km to go.

3.00pm BST

We're just past halfway now and the peloton are lurking 1min 54 behind leader Wurf as the group completes the final lap of the four long circuits. We're into the eight laps of the short circuit, and there are no hills involved in this bit. Instead it will be a flat-out blast along the seafront. Meanwhile, here's the blue jersey, climber points thus far: Wurf 3, Visconti 3, Bonnafond 3. Since Bonnafond didn't actually win a climb, the jersey will go to either Wurf or Visconti.

Updated at 3.02pm BST

2.56pm BST

Interesting fact about Cameron Wurf, he was once a lightweight rower for Australia and competed in the 2004 Olympics in the skull.

Updated at 2.56pm BST

2.54pm BST

A stat has just popped up on screen suggesting the average speed so far is 41.9km/h, which is relatively nippy.

2.53pm BST

The peloton is just beginning to think about reeling him in. They've picked up the pace a bit and it's beginning to get a bit stringy at the back. The water carriers are finding it that little bit harder to get back to the group after dropping back to the cars for drinks, suggesting the speed has picked up.

2.51pm BST

Wurf goes over the climb on his own again, while the peloton have warmly welcome that breakaway comfortably back into the pack. The Australian is still powering away at high speed in front, powering a big gear. 70km to go.

2.45pm BST

Ryder Hesjedal flaps his arms around in frustration as another rider's bottle comes flying past him, which he only just avoids. Meanwhile, the peloton has more or less mopped up the breakaway group. So now it is just Wurf out on his own out front.

2.41pm BST

Here's how it stands: Cannondale's Australian rider Cameron Wurf is out on his own, with a 2min lead over the peloton. A minute behind him is the chasing pack of Guillaume Bonnafond, Brian Bulgac, Marco Canola, Giovanni Visconti, Ricardo Mestre, Martijn Keizer. Behind them is the peloton, which has been split in two by that Urtasan crash. There's 73km to go.

Updated at 2.42pm BST

2.36pm BST

That's a bad crash. Euskaltel Euskadi's Pablo Urtasan has gone down heavily in the finishing straight and it causes the whole peloton to stop as they wiggle past him. He stays down for a while too, and has to stop for a good long while to get attention. He puts his helmet back on but doesn't look all that enthusiastic about getting back on his bike and catching everyone up. Lampre's Daniele Pietropolli is involved too, gets a shove in the chest from a copper for his troubles and has to grab a spare bike off the back of the team car.

Updated at 2.38pm BST

2.33pm BST

The Cannondale car keeps popping alongside Cameron Wurf and offering him support. He's really cruising now and completes the third lap of the long circuit. 80km to go and he has a 2min 11sec lead over the peloton, and approximately a minute's lead over the breakaway pack.

2.29pm BST

Wurf is still pootling along out on his own in front. Not through choice, you suspect, but because the breakaway pack behind him aren't too fussed about hauling him back.

2.26pm BST

"As to Mr Benton's point at 1.29pm, of course we cannot know - but I do know one thing," emails Gary Naylor, being perhaps a touch modest about his knowledge base. "About 15 years ago, I remember Marco Pantani puncturing just before the final climb of the day, a stage finish at a typically impossibly beautiful monastery atop of a Tuscan Hill. Il Pirata simply scythed through the field to win alone and I sat back thinking 'This is incredible!'. What I should have thought - and perhaps did, but didn't want to admit it - was 'This is incredible'. They don't make 'em like that any more - and for that we must be grateful."

2.24pm BST

RadioShack Leopard's Yaroslav Popovych must have been involved in that earlier crash too, he's covered in road rash and looks pretty sore.

2.23pm BST

Ah, my mistake, the cameras hadn't caught up with the action and it was actually Wurf who broke for the climb points there. He's now in the lead in the blue jersey race

2.22pm BST

Bonnafond's going to be popular. He's entirely ignored the leading pack's 'advice' that he shouldn't break off on his own for the climb points and has broken off on his own for the climb points. Cheeky. Keizer follows him into second. That means Bonnafond and Visconti are sharing the only points for the blue jersey with four apiece.

2.19pm BST

There's a crash in the peloton. The riders just squeezed over a little too close to the pavement on the left and five riders clipped it and went down. Not a big deal but a bit messy. Rabottini was one of the riders and Britain's Movistar team member Alex Dowsett was one of the others, forcing him to change his bike.

2.16pm BST

There's a lot of chatting going on in the leading pack. Most of it is directed at Bonnafond, with the leaders telling him not to be a silly boy and not to bother attacking on his own with a couple of km to go before the climb checkpoint. "Be a good chap and be a team player this time around, yeah mate?" seems to be the gist of it. He sticks out his bottom lip.

2.12pm BST

The peloton are leaving the leaders hanging out there, allowing them to fizz along having their own fun while the rest of the pack keep their noses clean in safety. Looks like the leading pack will just be left to do their own thing until there's about 20km left in the race and then they should be hauled back in. A couple of the Team Sky chaps are getting up to the front of the peloton too now, pulling their weight. Cavendish is tucked in nicely in the midst of things, looking very calm and focussed.

It's still Argos-Shimano and Omega Pharma-Quick-Step who are steering the peloton, who are still hovering about two minutes behind the leading pack of seven. They seem happy enough to keep them on that length of leash at the moment.

2.00pm BST

FDJ's Laurent Pichon has come skittering from his bike. Hard to see what happened there - perhaps a slight touch of wheels but he's gone absolutely flying, ripping up his shirt on the road as he does so. He seems OK and he ambles back onto his bike and sets off back through the cars to get back on the group.

1.57pm BST

La Mondiale's Bonnafond doesn't look all that comfortable out there in front on his own, spending more time looking over his shoulder than powering on. It looks as if he's after the blue jersey for mountain sprint points. But he's not going to get it like it - he's pipped at the line by Visconti, who had roared up behind him while he wasn't looking.

Updated at 1.59pm BST

1.52pm BST

The front two have been caught by the chasing intermediate pack, and then Guillaume Bonnafond has made a solo attack. He's going to have to hang out there a long time.

1.49pm BST

The riders are through the first lap of four, the peloton 1min 57 behind Visconti and Wurf. Naples, meanwhile, looks faintly unbothered about the whole race. The riders are flashing past beaches full of people swimming and sunbathing, barely paying any attention to the first Grand Tour of the year.

1.46pm BST

In the peloton, it's Team Argos-Shimano and Omega Pharma-Quick-Step who are setting the rhythm, hanging back 1min 40sec behind the two breakaway leaders.

1.44pm BST

A small thrill there for Visconti. He was flashing past a sharpish corner only to see a small, fat dog ambling out into the road. He just about readjusts himself, while the dog gives him a look that seems to say: "Hey! I'm walking here." I imagine the pooch might want to scarper given there are approx 200 more cyclists about to fizz past his nose.

1.39pm BST

Cannondale's Cameron Wurf and Viconti have gone off the front of the bunch now, and have a 1min 31sec lead over the peoloton, while there's a group of five in the middle aiming to catch the leading pair.

1.35pm BST

It's not just those two up the front now, they've been joined by five others with a good smattering of different teams in the mix. They've now stretched their lead to 51 seconds.

1.34pm BST

There is a group out front, 35 seconds ahead of a peloton who don't appear particularly fussed about things. Euskaltel Euskadi's Ricardo Mestre and Movistar's Giovanni Visconti are the two out in the lead and Visconti was being particularly vocal about urging Mestre to pull his weight doing the donkey work in front just now.

1.29pm BST

"After all the Lance Armstrong shenanigans, has doping been removed entirely from cycling?" asks Andrew Benton. "Will the Giro be raced clean ... or will we, sadly, in perhaps 10 years time, find that it isn't?"

1.28pm BST

That's the first puncture of the Giro then. Looked like Team Katusha's Angel Vicioso Arcos, who whips a new wheel on with the minimum of fuss.

1.24pm BST

The Omega Pharma Quick Step team of Mark Cavendish look, in these very early stages, as if they're putting their grip on things early on, maneuvering into the prime positions to keep an eye on proceedings. They'll have their eye on those at the front, who have gone off strongly but probably too frenetically.

1.22pm BST

The peloton is lined out already, a thin trail leading back to the pack as the riders, fired on adrenaline and energy, break early.

1.21pm BST

And we're off. Cavendish blasts himself off from the get go, keen to keep himself out of any shenanigans that might happen in a bunch start.

1.20pm BST

The riders are rolling out along the Naples seafront, taking things very easy up to the official start with with the sprinters all focussing on that big gallop finish at the close. Cavendish has already plonked himself front and centre. Could be a long sprint from there ...

1.16pm BST

Just while we're waiting to get things started, here's a list of riders to win both the Giro and Tour de France:

Fausto Coppi (Ita) - 1949, 52

Jacques Anquetil (Fra) - 1964

Eddy Merckx (Bel) - 1970, 72, 74

Bernard Hinault (Fra) - 1982, 85

Stephen Roche (Ire) - 1987

Miguel Indurain (Spa) - 1992, 93

Marco Pantani (Ita) - 1998

So that's not bad company then, if Wiggins can do it.

1.13pm BST

The Sky team is being led by Bradley Wiggins but is packed with climbers too - the Colombian Sergio Henao Montoya could be one to watch - so that they can manage the lead Wiggins is aiming to open up in the time trials. Wiggins says he has been working on his climbing though, so is hoping not to be a complete turkey there. He's the only Brit in Team Sky for the next three weeks, with the likes of Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas sitting this one out.

1.02pm BST

If today's cyclists think they've got it tough, then they've got nothing on their 1914 brothers in the peloton. Stage three of that edition was a breezy 430km jaunt from the pretty walled town of Lucca to the buzzing metropolis of Roma - the sort of simple 267 mile Sunday afternoon ride that most parish vicars knock off after service and a couple of pints of course. It took the stage winner Costante Girardengo 17 hours and 28 minutes to complete, presumably cycling on guts and Fernet Branca alone. By the end of the race, only eight of the original 81 competitors were still in it.

11.50am BST

Preamble

Today is good cop day. For the remaining three weeks, it's bad cop day. The opening stage of this year's Giro d'Italia is flat, shortish and will take place in the warm, dry sea air of Naples. It's one for the sprinters to hustle and bustle their way over the line, and for everyone else to muddle along in the pack, rubbing shoulders, getting the lay of the land. And then, tomorrow, bang: it begins to get serious.

The Giro is perhaps the biggest cycling test of the Grand Tours, a physical battle compared to the mental torture of the Tour de France. This is a purer hell, less hyped, less frenetic than the Tour where, as Robert Millar points out, the cyclists can simply feel only a small part of the show. Instead, in Italy the focus is on the racing and not - rightly or wrongly - on the doping, scandal or hoopla that can dominate elsewhere.

This is a race of steeper climbs, wilder weather and haphazard tactics. It's a place where individual flair can make someone a hero, and in which the hellish mountains that are stacked at the back end of the Giro can break a man. Bradley Wiggins's hope will be to get a good three or four minute lead in his pocket early on and then try to manage the likes of the Italian favourite Vincenzo Nibali who will attack in the mountains and descend like a madman.

Wiggins has a love-hate relationship with the Giro. He calls it "this bloody race", says it's horrendous. Ten years ago, he was dropped with three days of the race left to go, to small a rider, too meek to dare to ride up front with the likes of Mario Cipollini and Marco Pantani because he was afraid they'd sneer at him. He says the race is "inhumane" but, in that, there's the masochistic challenge that makes it so alluring. That, and the mythology of it all: to win the Tour is one thing, to win the Tour and the Giro? That makes you part of the elite.

Today, though, should be all about Mark Cavendish (from a British Isles perspective) and he'll hope his stuttering Pharma Quick Step team will be able to deliver him his 37th Grand Tour stage win in a sprint finish, putting him in the Maglia Rosa. And, coincidentally enough, the man himself has been tweeting about it.

Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish)

The beginning of @giroditalia might be a good time to get back into tweeting.. So I'm sending everyone hello from Napoli! 1st stage today.